A group of at least 120 inmates in the Tacumbú prison in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion, barricaded themselves after taking two prison guards as hostages, local media reported.

The mutiny began Wednesday morning during a routine check, with prisoners getting upset and a riot breaking out. Two guards were taken hostage in the facility’s hall—where the most dangerous prisoners are kept—but were released 15 minutes later with injuries in the head and neck, according to authorities.

The prisoners involved in the incident reportedly belong to the Paraguayan People's Army, or EPP, an offshoot called the Armed Peasant Association, ACA, as well as Brazil's First Capital Command, PCC.

The incident follows an announcement that the prison will soon be closed and its inmates transferred to other penal facilities, with most of the inmates scheduled to be sent to the Emboscada jail, 40 miles north of Asuncion. The prison's expansion was recently completed.

Tacumbu prison is Paraguay’s biggest jail and one of the most overcrowded in Latin America, with a population of more than 3,000 inmates. The facility has been frequently criticized for prisoner abuse and poor human conditions.

Riot police and the special forces entered the prison and are talking with inmates to normalize the situation without having to use force.